Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Bulldog Baseball
Louisiana Tech scored in each of the first five innings and never trailed in a 10-5 win over FIU that gave the Bulldogs a three-game series sweep of the Panthers before 1,797 on a breezy blue-skied Sunday afternoon at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.
The sweep came on the heels of a worrisome 2-6 streak, including a pair of lackluster midweek performances. Tech won Friday’s opener 7-5 and then prevailed 3-2 in 11 innings on Saturday.
“As bad as we’ve been, we’re 9-6 in (Conference USA) and all we set out to do is right in front of us,” Tech coach Lane Burroughs said. “Proud of how our guys responded. We needed this; we’ve got a tough week ahead and need to keep it going.”
The Bulldogs, 19-18, host old rival Southern Miss Tuesday at 6 p.m. before going to Dallas Baptist for games Friday (6:30 p.m.), Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.).
Against FIU and a program from their hometown, Miami natives Nick Fraginals (1-1), a freshman righthander, and junior catcher Jorge Corona enjoyed memorable afternoons. Fraginals pitched 1.1 innings and picked up the first win of his Bulldog career, and Corona, who was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, knocked in two runs and threw out a baserunner.
Tech starter Alec Sparks gave up two runs in 3.2 innings, Fraginals gave up one, Ryan Harland gave up a pair of runs in two innings and Landon Tomkins pitched the final two scoreless innings. Tomkins got the final out in the ninth when he punched out the Panthers cleanup hitter with runners at the corners.
“I know they’re sore and we asked a lot of them, but with the wind blowing out, we had to ride them and they posted,” Burroughs said of Harland and Tomkins. “We went all in and it paid off.”
Corona got things going. His two-out double scored Dalton Davis, who’d reached after getting hit by a pitch, to give Tech a 1-0 lead in the first.
“I thought we were locked in offensively from the start,” Burroughs said.
Tech added three in the second. The Bulldogs loaded the bases when Ethan Bates reached on an infield error and Panther righthanded starting pitcher Orlando Hernandez, who injured his elbow on the pitch to Bates, gave way to righty reliever Richie Pena, who walked Adarius Myers and gave up a single to Walker Burchfield. Will Safford and Logan McLeod knocked in a run apiece with sacrifice flies, and Davis doubled to score Burchfield for a 4-0 lead.
Corona and Bates each homered to right in the third to push the lead to 6-0.
Sparks ran into trouble in the fourth. The junior righty (3-1) gave up a homer, two doubles and two runs before Fraginals came in to get a fly ball out – “He calmed the storm,” Burroughs said – and send the Dogs to the bottom of the inning leading 6-2.
Tech immediately got a run back to make it 7-2 in the bottom of the fourth. McLeod was plunked for a team-leading 12th time this season and Davis doubled him home, the first baseman’s second RBI double of the game.
The Panthers made it 7-3 in the fifth on two singles and a sacrifice fly by Alec Sanchez, who homered in each game of the series.
But Tech answered again, this time with three in the bottom of the inning, all with two outs. Burchfield hit his third homer of the year, a bomb to dead center, to score Myers, who’d walked. Safford reached on an error and scored when McLeod hit his first triple of the season for a 10-3 Tech lead.
Harland, who threw a six-pitch, 1-2-3 sixth, gave up two runs on a double and homer in the seventh as FIU cut the lead to 10-5 before Tomkins came in to nail down the Bulldogs first sweep of the spring since they won three straight in The Love Shack against Northwestern of the Big 10 the first week of March.
Softball
Behind dominant pitching from Allie Floyd and Emma Hutchinson and a 10th-inning walk-off sacrifice fly from Kylie Neel, the Louisiana Tech Softball team defeated UTSA, 1-0 on Sunday afternoon at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field, completing a series sweep of the Roadrunners.
Tech (26-18, 8-7 C-USA) won Friday’s game 1-0 and then prevailed Saturday 3-0.
The Lady Techster pitching staff combined to throw 24 scoreless innings against UTSA. It marks the first time in program history that Tech has held the opponent scoreless during a 3-game league series. Tech now has 11 shutouts on the season.
Tech got the only run it would need with one out in the bottom of the 10th when Kylie Neel sent a 1-1 pitch from the Roadrunners’ Jamie Gilbert to centerfield, allowing Bailey Wright to race home for the game’s only run. Wright led off the inning with a single through the right side before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt from Sierra Sacco and reaching third courtesy of an Amanda Gonzalez single through the left side.
The Lady Techsters’ pitching staff was dominant, as usual. Allie Floyd got the start, pitching five scoreless innings in which she struck out three UTSA batters and allowed just two hits. Emma Hutchinson picked up the win by spinning five shutout innings in relief, allowing five hits while striking out two.
LA Tech is now 26-18 overall and 8-7 in Conference USA play. The Lady Techsters sit a half-game back of Western Kentucky in sixth place in the Conference USA standings.
Tech travels to El Paso this weekend for a 3-game series against UTEP.
Tech Tennis
No. 65 Louisiana Tech closes out the regular season on Monday as they face No. 45 Charlotte today at 2 p.m. at the LA Tech Tennis Complex in a battle of nationally ranked teams.
LA Tech (19-4, 2-0) extended a pair of winning streak this past Thursday in its doubleheader sweep of Grambling State. The Lady Techsters have won 11 straight matches, tied for the second longest in program history, and have won 13 straight home matches, which set a new program record.
The 19 overall victories surpassed last season’s total of 18, and is now the second most ever at LA Tech (behind only the 21 matches won in 1982).
LA Tech claimed its 10th and 11th shutout victories of the spring, defeating GSU by scores of 5-0 and 4-0.
No. 45 Charlotte (20-5, 1-1) comes to Ruston for the very first time while riding a six-match winning streak. The 49ers are having a historic season of their own, reaching 20 victories for just the fourth time in program history.
Charlotte, who has been nationally ranked for seven straight weeks, is coming off its third victory over a nationally ranked team after defeating No. 75 Tulsa on the road, 4-0.
The 49ers are an incredible 92-26 in dual singles this spring, led by Lucie Petruzelova and Lucia Quiterio who have each won 17 matches and are a combined 34-4. Quiterio was the C-USA Newcomer of the Year last season after transferring from Texas A&M.
Charlotte leads the all-time series over LA Tech, 2-1. All three matches have come in the Conference USA Tournament. The Lady Techsters won the first ever meeting, 5-2, at the 2016 C-USA Tournament in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The 49ers have taken the last two matchups though, winning 4-3 in 2017 and 4-0 in 2021 in the league tourney.
